salting before pickling

Jody, First I would say that some people skip the salt dry step and go to the pickle. I have done that on small items like squirrels. Salting pulls out the water/blood that was in the animals skin in life. Think of this as squeezing the water out of a sponge. After drying, rehydrating the skin in salt water places salty water into the skin (the sponge now is wet again but with salty solution). Next the skin goes into the pickle- more salt and acid too. The skin takes on the acid by process of difusion helped by the tendency of salt in the skin to pull the acid water in (the wet sponge dropped into a pot of similar liquid will eventually equalize with that liquid). Salting does some very important things besides drying the skin, it enters the skin to then aid in faster absorption of the pickle and at the same time acts as insurance against hair slippage until the pickle has set the hair. Now this is how I see it anyway, enjoy-Aaron H.

Effects of PH and Salt on Bacteria

This response submitted by JD on 2/4/05 at 12:21 AM. ( ) 216.31.73.22

The pH of the environment affects the growth of bacteria. pH of less than 6 usually will halt or slow the growth of most bacteria. Many fungi are able to thrive in environments where the pH is between 5 and 6. Usually the growth of bacteria tends to acidify the media. This drop in pH will eventually suppress the ability of the bacteria to survive in this environment. As the pH drops, the environment becomes more hospitable for those microorganisms better suit for growth at a lower pH. Microorganisms capable of growth at lower pH are referred to as acidophiles. Eventually, the pH will drop below that tolerated by even the acidophiles.

The osmotic conditions of the environment play an important role on the rate and extend of microbial growth in an environment. Most bacteria cannot tolerate a salt concentration much above 5%. If salt in the environment becomes more concentrated the osmolarity of the cytoplasm increases which interferes with ability of cytoplasmic enzymes to properly function.

thanks

This response submitted by jody on 2/4/05 at 7:37 PM. ( ) 68.92.104.116